Sorry to hear that of course. And - as the topic of this thread shows - you are not the only one.
Please take some time to read a bit of the discussion in this thread and try to take a look at this decision from the company’s standpoint.
For a start some points I had to think about myself, when being informed of the end of support for my FP1 (including some info I found here): What goot is sticking to a lost product (e.g. the chinese company that produced the phone is out of business) and holding high principles, when this might lead to going out of business or at least having less chances to take the project further with the next - modular - phone.
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Thanks Bert for taking the time to respond. The question for me has to be one of ethics and trust -how willing a company is, one that profiles itself as ethical, to place business before principles. If it survives by prioritising business, well it will be just another company but not an ethical one. Seems to miss the point entirely. I understand that these are difficult times for businesses but would you support a charity that goes off-mission simply to survive? I would not. Now I am left with a redundant phone with less support and sustainability than if I had purchased a standard phone. Fairphone has missed the point entirely.
That is simply not true. Fairphone supported their first phone way longer than any smartphone manufacturer does with their phones. The perceived long-term support of Samsungs and iPhones comes from third party manufacturers and, in the case of Cyanogen Mod / LineageOS updates, from the respective communities of developers.
In conclusion this means that the only way in which FP1 is less sustainable is because only 60,000 devices were produced and this amount is too small for third party manufacturers and significant community developer efforts.
What is your concrete problem at the moment with your FP1? Which part is failing? Maybe we can find a solution here on the forum.
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You are right in a way of course. I would not support a charity betraying it’s mission just to stay in business.
In this case on the other hand, the mission is followed through.
I would rather compare it with a charity, that is still spending money where it can not support the goal any more. If they do so just because many people are emontionally involved with that special task, while the money could achieve something pursuing another task, that would be a waste of my money.
Here’s what I understand happened:
The FP1 was a generic phone off the shelf of same chinese manufacturer.
That manufacturer has gone out of business since.
For the SOC they used, they had to learn, they never could reach an agreement to get the source code; rendering it virtually impossible to develop software beyond the Android 4.2 stage.
As after 3 years many phones are not working any more, being broken beyond repair etc., the number of FP1 still used has shrinked considerably (so I would guess).
Getting any manufacturer to produce spare parts for FP1 like the display or batteries would have required to order way more pieces than could be expected to have need for. At the same time the prices for those spare parts would have to be unreasonable high.
Having read about the end of support for FP1 myself: once after I calmed down and was able to put my frustration aside, I came to the conclusion, that it is better to follow the path with the FP2 and the modular concept. Using more resources on the outdated FP1 (in vain), would be a waste.
Well, no one has to agree on that and it might not even be completely correct, but one should really think about it.
EDIT:
You might take a look at this shorter thread (just 7 postings so far) as well:
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I just wanted to find out if it makes sense to update to Macadamia 1.9.9-pre3 or if it is better to leave my FP1 with Kola Nut 1.8.7.
I found the sticked thread about the Macadamia pre3 version, which suggests that it has some flaws. And I found more than one year old posts about some other community based versions. But the comparison is quite difficult.
Is the Macadamia 1.9.9-pre3 actually the latest and best version of the stopped attempt, including all community-based Versions?
And how is the security level of Macadamia compared to Kola Nut? I mean will be definitely higher. But is it rather much higher or just a bit higher? If compared for example with the FP2 security?
Would you update?
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It seems that you are very concerned about security. In this case I wouldn’t update, but rather follow the tips given here:
The thing is that Macadamia’s security is outdated anyway, compared to Android 6 on the FP2.
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Correct. I reloaded a Siemens S4 battery after 15 years?
This is not a fair behavior from a company that promoting a long life for its phones. I’m so desapointed. What will happend with the FP 2 when the FP3 will come??? That the same way like Apple
Just take some time reading through this post thread - if you haven’t done so already.
There are quite a few postings on that behalf.
E.g. the differences between FP1 (being off the shelf of a chinese manufacturer, that has gone out of business since) and FP2 (a “homemade” and modular design) and the lessons learned from the problems with FP1.
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The FP2 is designed by Fairphone so they have more control over it & better opportunities to support it. The FP1 was a first attempt at being fair, and while it was fair to the people who mined the tin and tantalum, it could not be 100% fair to everybody yet.
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This has nothing to do with the lack of batteries. That was and is the most simple and main reason for people to (have to) abandon their beloved FP1.
And FP knew this timely: when I bought two batteries last year I was only allowed to buy two; there must have been a reason for that …
Happily tit looks like hose batteries will last me some time: they are a far better quality than the version 1 batteries (higher capacity, no charging issues, still same capacity as a year back, while I used three (!) of the version 1 batteries in 2 years time (and often had issues with all of them).
Long story short: at the time FP knew (approx) the demand when they ordered the version 2 batteries and they should have ordered (4 times??) more.
Yep: shipping companies won’t allow you to ship more than two lithium ion batteries per shipment (safety rules).
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How can you know that?
Maybe more people than expected decided to build their own battery “storehouse” like you by buying two or even more batteries (through two or three consecutive orders). Don’t get me wrong. To me that is higly understandble, having had your experience with battery failure or when needing a spare battery for traveling etc. But as a result probably nobody knows how many batteries are waiting in drawers to be used (maybe even “never” in the end).
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Thanks for that word.
But I had somehow the impression, that the community was quite eager to develope the 4.4.4 port for FP1. Is this attempt dead, too?
Yep, that effort was abandoned by @chrmhoffmann when Faiprhone announced their own efforts (in fact they joined forces, but no port ended up being perfect).
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The problem is that the battery is dying, lasts about a couple of hours only.
Can you offer a solution?
Otherwise, you are simply asking people to ‘believe’ that next time it will be better; this is not professional nor ethical. A more credible approach would have been if Fairphone provided phones to those of us that helped finance it when it started or at least offer it at very cheap prices.
I have friends with smartphones that have lasted far longer than 3 years and still going…and there are not fairphones…
No, they are phones made by multi-billion dollar multinationals that have existed for decades. Nice comparison…
And who is going to pay for that? Your Santa Clauses are the people in mines and factories making your gifts for free.
Be critical, improve the world and understand what you are talking about before offering fantasies as solutions.
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Wow. You are clearly improving the world with such constructive comments.
The point remains, Fairphone has not lived up to their claims. People like myself funded the development of the first phone because we wanted sustainable products and are willing to pay more. At the moment, and in my view, FAIRPHONE is letting down their customer group. I have little assurance that they will improve on Fairphone2 once Fairphone3 is out. Please feel free to disagree.
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Please, you two, don’t attack each other.
I hope that you can find a replacement battery here:
To improve batter life, you should also try to find out the most battery consuming apps and delete them (usual suspects include Facebook and their messenger).
PS: Maybe you even suffer from a wakelock .
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I may have gone a little overboard there. My apologies.
But (most) of your arguments have already been said (and repeated) by many people here in this forum.
It sounds so easy; just give people a discount because they are unhappy. It will make them happy again.
But a discount is a cut in price. It is real money. So the money you do not pay, someone else pays. If you do not consider the consequences or show that you understand what they are, then it makes no sense.
Fairphone does not own a money printing press. They have to pay their employees, suppliers etc. etc.
The Fairphone 1 was the first phone (hence the name) by a small Amsterdam startup company. It was a crowd-funded phone. It is the first attempt ever to make a change in the electronics industry.
You can’t possibly expect them to make a phone that compares to the Samsungs or Apples of this world. You can’t expect them to start handing out gifts to keep people happy and by doing so endangering the existence of the company.
That is why I say; sure, be critical and help make the world a better place. But don’t expect others to perform your wonders.
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